Events

Don't miss this very special evening with Clark University professor Daniel Omotosho Black, whose new novel, A Perfect Peace, explores the complexities of gender and sexuality in one rural southern African American family. Emma Jean Peace had always wanted a girl, but after birthing her sixth boy, she swore she would never be pregnant again as she is going through “the change.”  Unexpectedly, she becomes pregnant yet again and gives birth to her seventh boy in May of 1940.  Possessed by her wish to have a daughter and angry at God for so denying her, Emma Jean declares the baby is her daughter at last, naming her Perfect.  She then threatens her midwife to keep her secret from her family and the community.    When Perfect turns eight, Emma Jean tells her bewildered daughter, “You was born a boy. I made you a girl. But that ain't what you was supposed to be. So, from now on, you gon' be a boy. It'll be a little strange at first, but you'll get used to it, and this'll be over after while.”  From this point forward, his life becomes a bizarre kaleidoscope of events.  Meanwhile, the Peace family is forced to question everything they thought they knew about gender, sexuality, unconditional love, and fulfillment.